An unconventional woman defies the rules of noble turn-of-the-century Sweden in an epic novel of love, secrets, family ties, and rediscovery by the bestselling author of The Moonlit Garden. Sweden, 1913. Having petitioned the court for independence from her aristocratic family, the young and vibrant Agneta Lejongård takes control of her destiny. In Stockholm, she explores her bohemian passions in art and free love, joins the suffragette movement with her best friend, and defiantly resists the expectations of women in high society. Then comes news of a tragic accident and an urgent summons to return to the family's manor house in the country. As for Agneta's forward path in life, she must now follow it back home. Though the grand horse-breeding estate of Lion Hall stirs some warm memories, what lies ahead tests Agneta's independent spirit: a disapproving mother locked in the traditions of a woman's proper place, two men vying for Agneta's heart, and a twist of fate that upends her life once again. Torn between a daughter's duty and the freedom she pines for, Agneta struggles not only to rebuild her future, but also to protect the future of Lion Hall itself. Forging a new path brings challenges, rewards, and a true purpose that she never could have imagined.

In pre-WWII Sweden, fate and secrets change an impetuous young woman's life in a novel of deception, true love, and reinvention by the bestselling author of The Inheritance of Lion Hall. Sweden, 1931. Matilda Wallin has a future in Stockholm: business college, then establishing a company with the young man she plans to marry. It's all upended by her mother's death--and a stranger who has been appointed her guardian. Matilda has no idea who Countess Agneta Lejongård is or why this aristocrat has taken an interest in her. Agneta summons Matilda to live with her and her family on their magnificent country estate but remains mysterious about her connection to Matilda. Torn from her previous life and its promises, Matilda has no choice but to follow Agneta to venerated Lion Hall. At first resistant to rural aristocratic life, Matilda tries to adjust. In Agneta's son Ingmar, Matilda finds a new friend. In Ingmar's twin brother, Magnus, she finds a churl who dismisses her as an interloper beneath his family's stature. But just as the estate and Agneta's benevolence win Matilda's heart, she discovers the secret that ties her to the Lejongårds in ways she never imagined, which could change her life once again. Now, Matilda must make a decision: return to Stockholm and the commitments of her heart or take a risk on the unknown at Lion Hall.

Charles Galton Darwin was the grandson of the great Charles Darwin and was born into the liberal and independent-minded intellectual family in 1887. He became an eminent physical scientist, but less respectably emerged as a proponent of eugenics – a science devoted to the desirability, even necessity, of improving human stock by selective breeding. He and most of the previous generation of Darwins were enthusiastic activists and leaders in the cause of eugenics – which was controversial when it was first proposed and today, after its association with Nazi atrocities, has become hugely distasteful to most people. The Chief Sea Lion’s Inheritance: Eugenics and the Darwins is the first book to scrutinise this aspect of the Darwin inheritance – examining Charles Galton Darwin and six generations of the family.Dr. Blaney’s research has placed the concept of eugenics within the context of Charles Galton Darwin’s own unique family perspective. Why did a member of a family with a reputation for enlightened and humane thought pursue a concept that was reviled from its inception? And why has this seemingly reprehensible aspect of the Darwin family been given scant attention in nearly all versions of their illustrious story?

With the exception of the occasional local case study, music-hall history has until now been presented as the history of the London halls. This book attempts to redress the balance by setting music-hall history within a national perspective. Kift also sheds a new light on the roles of managements, performers and audiences. For example, the author confutes the commonly held assumption that most women in the halls were prostitutes and shows them to have been working women accompanied by workmates of both sexes or by their families. She argues that before the 1890s the halls catered predominantly to working-class and lower middle-class audiences of men and women of all ages and were instrumental in giving them a strong and self-confident identity. The hall's ability to sustain a distinct class-awareness was one of their greatest strengths - but this factor was also at the root of many of the controversies which surrounded them. These controversies are at the centre of the book and Kift treats them as test cases for social relations which provide fresh insights into nineteenth-century British society and politics.